ISLAMABAD, Aug 9: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) leaders have alleged that massive pre-poll rigging is taking place in Gujrat, the hometown of ruling party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, and asked the chief election commissioner (CEC) to visit the area to ascertain the situation.

Speaking at a news conference here on Tuesday, PPP MNA Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, former MNA from Gujrat Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul, MNA Nayyar Bokhari and Nazir Dhoki claimed that situation in Gujrat was very tense and even there was a possibility of bloodshed at the time of election in the city.

The PPP leaders asked the CEC to declare Gujrat sensitive area and conduct elections there under the supervision of army in order to maintain law and order.

The PPP leaders alleged that the police officials, the returning officers and other staff members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were acting on the directives of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat and had become their “personal servants”.

They further alleged that the opposition candidates had been kidnapped and forced to change their loyalties. They said a Naib Nazim candidate of the Awam Dost Panel was picked up by the police on the sessions court premises and next day, the newspapers carried his pictures with the Chaudhrys at their residence announcing his support to them.

The PPP leaders said false cases had been registered not only against the opposition candidates and leaders, but also against their relatives and supporters.

Ghazanfar Gul said Gujrat had become an “axis of rigging and corruption.” He said the returning officers (ROs) and their deputies were paying no heeds to the objections raised by the opposition candidates on the nominations of ruling party candidates. He said several known criminals and convicted persons had been elected unopposed in Gujrat. He said the party had the written orders of the ROs, in which they had rejected the objections, stating that “crime plus punishment is equal to innocence.”

Similarly, Mr Gul said list of polling stations had not been put on display anywhere in Gujrat and there were reports that some of the polling stations were being shifted to far-flung areas. He said the state machinery and official resources were being openly used in the election campaign. He asked the CEC to visit the area and hold a meeting with them in the presence of the ROs. He challenged that if he failed to prove any of his allegations, he would quit politics forever.

MNA Kaira said the politics of Chaudhrys always revolved around the politics of police stations and ‘patwaris’ and they were still doing the same despite acquiring the offices of the chief minister and the prime minister. He said it seemed that there was a competition between the Punjab and Sindh chief ministers over the pre-poll rigging. He said the Sindh chief minister had managed to get the ruling party candidates elected unopposed in 34 union councils and had put a challenge to his Punjab counterpart.

Mr Kaira said they had no hope of getting justice from the ECP or from the judiciary. He said despite all such tactics, the PPP would contest the LB polls and faced the Chaudhrys.

Meanwhile, In-charge of the party’s central secretariat Kamran Zafar through a letter apprised the CEC of the incidents of harassment, high handedness and intimidation of the Awam Dost candidates, their supporters and PPP workers in Sindh and Punjab.

He said an Awam Dost panel councillor candidate and PSF leader Azhar Khokhar was gunned down in mysterious circumstances in Larkana. Police raided the house of a candidate Bashir Magsi and supporter Mumtaz Khero in Sakrand. A proposer of the Awam Dost candidate was injured in firing on his home in UC Khadahar. Pano Aqil UC Nazim candidate of Awam Dost Sudhamchand Bhagia had announced withdrawal of his papers saying that his family members were being pressurized.

He informed the CEC about the alleged victimization of the Awam Dost candidates and their relatives in various parts of Sindh, including Shahdadkot and Mirpur Khas.